


The lyre of Orpheus, the greatest musician

by MabelLover



Series: Moirai [9]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MabelLover/pseuds/MabelLover
Summary: The woman comes to the town every autumn. It's one of the things that Lily learns to expect, to hope for, the woman who sets a chair in the plaza and takes out her violin to play and sing.What did Flora do with her life? She became a travelling musician.
Series: Moirai [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554079
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The lyre of Orpheus, the greatest musician

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheMockingJ3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMockingJ3/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Musical Mantle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22868674) by [TheMockingJ3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMockingJ3/pseuds/TheMockingJ3). 



The woman comes to the town every autumn. It's one of the things that Lily learns to expect, to hope for, the woman who sets a chair in the plaza and takes out her violin to play and sing. She sings of a lost people, destroyed by their own hubris, and the treasure they left behind. Lily clings to her mother, begging for a coin to give the woman. The sound of the pence falling on the violin case is drowned by the applauses, but the woman still hears it.

"You like my songs?"

Lily has to crane her head up, up to make eye contact. The woman is smiling, brown hair gathered in a neat bun. Just above the neckline of her dress, a strange birthmark that looks like an apple.

Lily nods her head, and points at the violin.

"Could you teach me?"

They set up a new routine. After the performances, Lily goes to the woman's, Flora, hotel room. There, the girl learns how to play the violin, as the woman corrects her posture and gives information on music theory that Lily half-absorbs. Over the course of a few sessions, she plays her very first song, a little melody that Flora calls 'The Song of the Sea'.  
Halfway through one of those lessons, Lily gathers the courage to ask about the photographs on the table. Flora looks up from the sheet, surprised, before her expression settles on a mixture of longing, resentment and happiness.

"This" she says, pointing to a man wearing a top-hat "is the Professor. He was my guardian after my father died. He got in a lot of adventures with Luke," a boy dressed in blue "but Luke moved away. To the Americas."

"What kind of adventures did they get into?"

Lily is perched over the table, a large grin gracing her mouth. Flora sports one just like hers, and scoots closer.

"They would leave me behind often. The Professor thought he was protecting me, and I understand why he would do that, given his past, but..."

Flora shifts on the chair, crossing her legs. Lily looks up from her tea cup, and sees a young teenager, sitting awkwardly, eyeing the world with worry.

"It just made me feel trapped in that tower again."

She brings a gloved hand to her temple and brushes a stray hair out of her face.

"It's why I travel so much. I love Kat and Al, but I can't bear to stay still for so long."

Flora returns the next autumns, but stays less and less time. She is gaining notoriety in the music world, her disks selling well. She no longer plays on the street, and stays only long enough to give Lily a few music sheets and guide her around a song.

Lily would like to say that she is happy for her, but the feeling of jealousy on her chest doesn't go away.

Every time Flora has to go back to London for a contract or a concert, she says goodbye almost absentmindely, and Lily feels abandoned. It's irracional, of course, Flora owes her nothing, but she can't fight it.

Flora notices.

"Would you like to become my apprentice? Officially, I mean?"

Lily is eighteen now, old enough to leave her hometown and make a living of her own. She turns to look at Flora, who has her back to her as she puts a hat back in its box. The gentle humming of a bird outside the window covers the room, the afternoon glaze making it look fuzzy, dream-like. Lily isn't sure if this is real.

She was never sure if anything related to Flora was real or not, she realizes. The adventures too fantastical, the tower like a fairytale. Even Flora herself seems unreal at times, lost in a world where Lily doesn't belong in, but wants to be in.

That is why she says yes.

Traveling around the world is taxing but rewarding. For every long trip they have to make, Lily sees new places, charming villages, glamorous towns. They perform everywhere, London, Paris, Vienna, they pass through popular tourist spots like Monte D'Or. It seems that Flora knows everyone, charming the aristocrats and the polititians, conversing with the locals. Even that journalist from the World Times knows her.

Lily learns. She plays the complex melodies that Flora challenges her with, she begins to understand which fork is used for the salad, she laughs with the people she is supposed to mingle with at the galas. A glass of champaigne on her hand, she twirls with Mr. Ascot on the dance floor.

As they travel, Flora opens more about what happened to the Professor.

"He's missing." Her hair is down this time, and she lets Lily brush it. "He'd been looking for something with Luke - about Kat, we think. He didn't come back."

It's strange. He's survived so much, so what was powerful - and dangerous - enough to make him disappear?

Lily spins Flora around and they laugh, a hearty sound that echoes through the walls. She has grown tall, taller than even Flora, whom she once had to look up to until her neck ached. They took off the cumbersome gowns and are dressed in simple shirts and trousers, bringing in dirt from the garden with their bare feet.

They refuse to settle in London like their manager wants them to, and they leave for a new trip around the world while their brain is still clouded with alcohol.

They never regret it.

It becomes second nature for them to sit down and play together. They tune their violins and create unnecessary flourishes through 'The Song of the Sea' as they hum.

Flora is resplandescent in those moments. It's when she tells the best stories.

"You know," she begins "it was Luke who taught me how to play."

"Really?"

"Yes, it was just before he left. I asked him to teach me. I told him I'd be better than him the next time I saw him."

"Were you?"

She smiles so beautifully.

"I was."

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to TheMockingJ3. I really love your fics, and you are a great source of inspiration to me.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
